A DOUGHNUT shack on Brighton Palace Pier is being given a new lease of life – as a vegan restaurant.

The meat-free kiosk, called Veg Up Your Day, will be run by Palm Court restaurant, which is already testing out a new vegan menu at its current premises on the pier.

Palm Court manager Rosario Abbate explained: “It’s going to be a new design in a new unit, and it will serve entirely vegan food.”

Prototypes being tested include a Portobello mushroom burger, a dish called “fishless and chips” made with a vegan substitute, and sweet hoisin duck made with a tofu-based alternative.

Rosario said: “It’s not 100 per cent yet, but in the trials we’ve done the dishes are good.

The Argus:

“The demand for vegan food is increasing. There are 70,000 vegans living in Brighton, and we’re hoping to appeal to them.

“We have a good number of vegan diners already. They’re looking for great vegan food rather than just a salad.”

The plant-based menu is the brainchild of Palm Court’s operations manager Remy Haudecoeur.

He has pledged not to use plastic packaging on the pier, and plans to use a green alternative for plastic cutlery called ‘vegware’, which biodegrades after three months.

Remy has other green ambitions. He said the pier had already changed providers so it now runs entirely on renewable electricity, and outlined plans to replace the 160,000 plastic water bottles the pier currently uses each year with recyclable cans.

He has also said he wants Veg Up Your Day to become the pier’s first home delivery restaurant.

The managers said work is underway and the restaurant will open in the new year.